Twitter as a Business Tool. Free Chapter on How Twitter is a Communications Game Changer for Businesses. By Rodney Rumford CEO of Gravitational Media

1. © Copyright 2009, Gravitational Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this
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express written consent.

2. Twitter as a Business Tool

3. SAMPLE CHAPTER
Chapter 5: A Communications Game Changer
Let’s face a fact here: Twitter is not a fad. Twitter, and the micro-blogging platform that it
offers, is a trend that is gaining widespread adoption. Twitter has been in existence for 2+
years, and has started to gain real momentum. Your customers are on Twitter talking about
your company, you just might not be aware of it. They are communicating with their net-
work of followers in a very public and broadcast type of communication mode. Every
tweet that a person makes is public and can be read by every one of their followers and
everyone on Twitter.
We have conducted extensive
research into how users engage on
Twitter, and the numbers bear out
that people use the service with sig-
nificantly increasing frequency.
These engaged users bring more
people into Twitter, further
enhancing the platform. Twitter is
also attracting big name brands who
are vying for this highly coveted
audience.
The following reasons are just a
small sampling of why users feel connected with Twitter and value the ecosystem it pro-
vides as a game-changing – and meaningful - way to communicate:
Connectivity with family and friends in real time
Socialize and collaborate with others
Find interesting news items & reports
Share e-commerce bargains
Discuss hobbies/discover like-minded individuals
Engage in professional networking
Promote blogs or other endeavors
Provide feedback to other users
Extend the reach of your brand and products
Promote your personal brand
Stay ahead of the curve
Twitter as a Business Tool

4. In truth, Twitter effectively offers a completely new way to communicate. When people
engage in this platform and share content in short bursts frequently, they create an oppor-
tunity for both increased reach and increased noise. I like to refer to Twitter as the social
river of micro-sharing. People can effectively broadcast anything they want to tens of thou-
sands of people very easily if their network is that size. The people that are getting this in-
formation all actively and willingly accepted and decided to get this information from peo-
ple that they follow, so it can be very powerful to speak to this targeted group who are pre-
disposed to hearing your message.
Over time, people become more accustomed to sending status updates. What was once
novel behavior, requiring conscious thought, with practice, becomes an established part of
the daily routine. People become more adept at navigating the Twitter ecosystem, and
achieve a measure of fluidity, both contributing and taking in information with increasing
ease.
There is an established pattern users
engage in as they adopt new
communication technology. People
will use Twitter slowly until they
become comfortable with the
channel, then they will slowly build
up their usage frequency as their
comfort level increases.
For example, when e-mail was first
introduced, people used it infre-
quently, if at all. Now, however, the
situation has dramatically changed
and email is many people's primary
mode of electronic communication.
The same scenario was demonstrated with text messaging. When people first started send-
ing text messages; it was with far less frequency than they text today. If you need proof of
this, just look at any teenager (and now all age demographics) and see how they use their
cell phone. You will see them sending text messages far more than making calls. They
would rather micro-touch (text) than actually speak to their friends a large percentage of
the time. It is quick and easy while still allowing them to stay connected with their commu-
nity.
Twitter parallels that texting behavior in the way that it is short interactions and can be
done from a mobile device –- or any number of Twitter apps. The big difference is that
you are effectively texting thousands of people at one time. People choose to get con-
Twitter as a Business Tool

5. nected to new people with similar interests through the social context of the messages, and
services like http://search.twitter.com allow users to enter keywords of interest, so your
posts expand beyond just your current followers.
What’s unique about Twitter is that these messages have far more power than those deliv-
ered through e-mail or text. The amplification and reach of messages through the social
graph is staggering. It is not uncommon for messages to ripple through 10-100 different
friend node networks on Twitter at a high velocity of speed.
This reach is what makes Twitter a game
changer--a new medium that allows communica-
tion to spread quickly both deep and wide,
combining virality with personal commentary,
effectively strengthening the message and
resonating with a primed audience.
What is Twitter?
In fact, Twitter can be anything that you want it
to be. Think about this: What are the use cases
for the telephone, email or websites? There are
literally hundreds of ways to use these tech-
nologies. The common denominator here is that
they all enable communication in some form or
another. They are a channel for communication.
If you understand Word of Mouth Marketing
(WOM) then you’ll find this easy to visualize.
Simply put, Twitter is WOM on steroids. The
convergence of networks is something Twitter
excels at. It is very efficient at facilitating this convergence as a communication channel. It
allows content to flow in and out of its platform to other social networks, blogs, websites,
applications, etc.
Users determine what conversations, brand mentions, product thoughts, links, images, vid-
eos, etc they choose to share with their followers and those users consume and decide if
they want to pass the conversation over to their followers. The thing to remember is that
once again, you are not posting randomly, but to a primed audience who are interested –
and engaged in spreading your message.
It's important to understand where micro-communication fits within the range of online
communication platforms, and what that means for your business. When people began to
publish blogs, they had a podium to express their views. Then we saw podcasting evolve,
Twitter as a Business Tool

6. letting anyone effectively broadcast a radio show. Then YouTube came along and anyone
could create a television station and the content could spread virally. Then Facebook
gained in popularity and exposed the social network for use by everyone.
Now, we have yet another paradigm to consider. Understand that Twitter is effectively a
particle accelerator that shoves micro-sized content down a tube at a high velocity. An ex-
plosion occurs when the content hits the people and pushes through their social graph and
back out to their followers, blog, websites, etc. Conversation is the currency that drives re-
lationships, brand perception, marketing and business in this day and age, and all of it is
enabled through Twitter.
Make note of the Twitter tagline “What are you doing?”. This is how people typically start
to engage with Twitter “I am hungry now. I think I will eat some sushi downtown after
work”.
But ultimately, a better way to look at Twitter--and one that typically occurs to people as
they become familiar with the ecosystem--is to look at posts as answering the question
“What am I thinking?”
From there, let's say I’m thinking about writing a post about the future of online market-
ing. And boom! With that quick tweet, you have sparked others who are interested in
online marketing, welcoming collaborators, and facilitating knowledge exchange. It’s a
very powerful result from a seemingly innocent tweet. That is the beauty of Twitter.
When you build a community, comprised of like-minded individuals, anything you post can
strike a chord with them and lead to something greater than the sum of its parts.
The data from a recent
survey indicates that
there are a variety of
ways that users of Twitter
are using the channel to
communicate. Not
surprisingly 56% declared
that they use the eco-
system in some form that
is business related.
People share informa-
tion, links, news, recom-
mendations, complaints,
images and more via
Twitter. This offers value
Twitter as a Business Tool

7. to their followers and network on the whole. An example of the “what are you thinking”
engagement model is one used by CNN in how they used Twitter to show what people
were thinking about the candidates during the recent presidential election.
For business purposes if you work from the “What am I thinking” model versus the “What
I am doing” model you will deliver greater value to your network and attract the people
that matter most to you. For example you might tweet something like this, “I just discov-
ered this report on how consumers are looking at their connections to their cars. Interest-
ing report, I like it. www.consumersite.com/report”
Try it. You’ll be
amazed how quickly
you get drawn into the
exchange of informa-
tion, ideas and very
meaningful
conversations.
The Twitter Micro-
Content Flow Diagram
visually illustrates how
communications and
messages can flow into
and out of twitter to
other social networks,
web properties,
widgets, blogs and
social websites.
Twitter as a Business Tool

8. About The Author
Bio: Rodney is a true visionary and has authored
books on Social Media, Business Blogging &
Podcasting. He has been featured in The Wall Street
Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, Business 2.0
and numerous Associated Press & Reuters articles. His
work has also been featured in the acclaimed “For
Dummies” series of books.
He has 21 years of experience in technology,
marketing, engineering, sales and consulting. He has
worked for Fortune 100 companies and startups in a
variety of management & board advisory positions. He
is the Founder & CEO of Gravitational Media & SociallyBranded, a new resource
for monitoring and maximizing online brand penetration and exposure.
He has been Blogging for 6+ years and has developed software solutions in the ar-
eas of RSS, Content Syndication, Blogs, Podcasting, Widgets, Twitter Applications,
Facebook Applications, Video Search & Aggregation, and PPC Advertising. He is a
widely published article author that has been featured on many websites as an au-
thority across New Media & Social Media topics.
His consulting firm, Gravitational Media, helps clients embrace these new media
technologies to attain specific business goals and is focused on action-driven strate-
gies. Their offerings include Businesses Strategy, Ideation and Technology Consult-
ing to help Brands Engage in Social Networks. A partial client list includes: DOW,
Pfizer, Vivendi, Simon & Schuster, Mountain Dew and many more. Rodney has
been involved with the Facebook f8 platform since its launch. He also sits on the
board of several technology companies.
He is also the Publisher of www.FaceReviews.com which rates & reviews Facebook
applications, and also provides news and strategy insights about social media trends.
He currently resides in Solana Beach, CA.
Contact Information:
http://twitter.com/rumford http://twitter.com/tweetbizbook
Office: 858-720-9604
www.twitterbusinessbook.com/contact
Twitter as a Business Tool

9. http://www.TwitterBusinessBook.com/buy
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30 Case Studies, 10 Use Cases That Work, The Secrets
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This Twitter Multimedia Kit is perfect for marketing
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Includes: Book, Companion Workbook, 50 Power Point
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If you require corporate pricing for multiple copies please send us a message and we will respond
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Twitter as a Business Tool